The present invention relates generally to shipping containers and particularly to shipping containers that serve as display stands for articles shipped therein.
It is common practice for manufacturers of small products to ship their products to retail stores in cardboard containers. At the retail store, the containers typically are cut open and the articles shipped therein are removed and placed onto shelves for display and sale. This is both a time consuming and wasteful process since the shipping containers, being designed for shipping only, are usually discarded after being unpacked. In addition, it is difficult to display advertisements or information about the products displayed on conventional shelves without hiding merchandise displayed on other shelves.
Previous attempts have been made to solve these problems through the use of shipping containers that also serve as display stands for merchandise shipped therein. Examples of such containers can be found in Taub U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,576, Hostad U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,288, and Ross U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,174. Each of these patents show shipping containers that also serve to display the goods shipped therein for sale. Each of them generally comprise a container in which the goods are shipped and a tubular stand for supporting the container in an elevated position above the floor or other surface. The Taub and Hostad patents also show display panels for displaying printed advertisements or other information.
While these containers are useful, they have not completely solved the problems discussed above. This is because they generally require assembly which can not only be intricate and frustrating, it can require at least as much time as removing the articles from the container and placing the articles on conventional shelves. In addition, the display panels for the containers do not have adequate means of vertical support and may droop or may be pulled over by customers.